The family of an Arlington woman whose 2012 killing remained unsolved for more than a decade says they are finally hopeful justice will be served after police arrested a North Texas real estate agent in the case.
Irasema Chavez was found dead inside her Arlington apartment after being stabbed more than 100 times. For years, investigators had few leads until advances in DNA technology revived the investigation.
“The question has always been who did it and why?” the Chavez’s sisters asked in Spanish.
The sisters spoke with NBC 5 from Nuevo León, Mexico, days after Arlington police announced the arrest of 42-year-old Mayra Velasquez on a capital murder charge.
“There’s finally going to be justice for her,” they told NBC 5 in Spanish.
Police said the FBI’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy program helped identify a potential suspect by analyzing DNA evidence collected from the crime scene. According to an arrest affidavit, undercover detectives later collected a fork used by Velasquez, and testing allegedly matched her DNA to evidence recovered during the investigation.
Chavez’s family said they did not know Velasquez. However, the arrest affidavit states the two women were “very close friends.”
Velasquez’s attorneys have denied the allegations.
“Mayra visited the victim’s apartment numerous times because she and the victim were friends. It’s no surprise that her DNA was found in the living room… DNA alone does not prove who committed a murder,” her attorneys said in a statement.
The defense also argues surveillance video from the day of the killing appears to show a man leaving the apartment complex. Investigators, however, said bloody footprints found at the scene were small and appeared to belong to “a female or a small male.”
As the case moves through the courts, Chavez’s family said they are praying for Velasquez’s family while hoping their own loved one will finally receive justice.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.